I don't get socialists. I don't get how they don't see certain things the way I see them. You don't like chocolate? Fine. Raw meat is gross to your touch? Whatever. But so much of socialism is so pretentious and bothers me.
Let's get something in the clear right now: I firmly believe every human being with means has a responsibility to help others in need. Period. Full Stop.
HOWEVER, what is need? What is help? There are some things that are nearly universal in general, but the specifics are all relative. If a family down the road lost income due to some reason - unforeseen or not - and they are having a hard time buying food, should I help? I think so. Should I go to jail if I don't? Should I have someone come and forcibly take some elsewhere-agreed-upon amount of money from me to buy them a dinner a week? This is where I start wondering.
My problem with socialism is this: they want to pay for the "good things" of their reckoning with my money. Without my say so. Yeah - they say I can vote, and I certainly can. But if they get their way, they will make my money go places I might prefer it not go. I'm looking at you, federal government.
Here is where I am different. If I have my way, I will put my money where I want it. I will let others put theirs where they want - and I might even try to facilitate that. Trying to explain that to a socialist is like trying to explain gravity to a 1 year-old. They look at me befuddled, and they tell me I am selfish or unrealistic. They say the only way we can get money from the masses to the "needy" (many are needy, some are stuck that way in a broken system) is to force people's hand. It's only taxes - how wrong could that be? How egregious a deed could be perpetrated by the powers that be in DC?
Well, I say it stinks! I can't not pay my taxes. Yeah - I have freedom. But I don't have the freedom to choose whatever consequence I want independent of the action. I don't want to pay for bureaucrats planning how much about sex they want to teach my kids. I don't want to pay farming corporations to not grow food while people are starving all over the world. I don't want to buy a drug dealer's lunch while he's slangin' on the side. I don't want to pay for that asinine middle management dodging accountability while preventing action in all the bureaucracies my money pays for.
I don't want to pay for global warming mitigation research. I don't want to subsidize ethanol or toxic battery vehicles or wind power. I don't want to pay for bureaucracy! It is a giant waste! Look at the spending in any department in the federal government, and look how much is the infinite layers of middle-managers that don't actually do much or aren't needed. I don't want people trying to spend my money on that.
Socialists need to get real jobs. By the way, have you noticed how few rich people that run a company are socialists? The people creating and maintaining jobs don't tend to be socialists. It is either jealous poor people, self-deprecating bourgeois, or rich athletes/entertainers. None of these people are wealthy in the old-fashioned way: actual work.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sunday, November 13, 2011
What is capitalism?
These Occupy fools need to go home.
There are so many people who are so mad about some really goofy crap. Somehow, Obama convinced everyone that during previous administrations, corporate greed was directly the fault of the Whitehouse, but during his, corporate greed is some outside thing he is fighting personally.
AIG got a massive bailout a few years ago, and then when they gave various executives contractually agreed-upon bonuses, people freaked out. There were protests in people's yards. All the bonus recipients had to give the money back, or the out-of-work union people were gonna make 'em. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to suck at all the crap they do. They post losses continually. The government keeps giving them bailouts on the order of billions of dollars, and they keep giving their uppers big, fat bonuses. Where is the anger here? They are supposed to be able to be legitimately profitable, and yet they operate on taxpayer debt money. We don't even have the money to keep them in business.
There is this general pissed-off-ed-ness toward capitalism these days. People have it in their minds that capitalism and capitalists (in the Marxist, spit out of the corner of the mouth, pronunciation) are the source of all their woes. I would love to set America - and the world - straight on this:
Capitalism, in its actual sense, is not to blame here.
Giant conglomerate corporations are not capitalist. Being pro-business is not being pro-capitalist. Just because not every industry is nationalized does not mean we are capitalist. Every good modernization in life (and the bad ones, too) have come about because someone had an idea that would rock the boat, and they got the backing to develop it sufficiently to get it to market and let capitalism do its thing. Competition is capitalism. Mergers are not. Anything that degrades competition is anti-capitalist.
The problem is that SO many people want to blame the wealthy for the fact that the wealthy have seen more success than the masses. Even a lot of wealthy people like to jump on that bandwagon (*cough cough* Michael Moore). Look, wealthy people employ less-wealthy people. And when there is good competition, wages and work environment need to be just as competitive as the goods or services sold. And then everyone goes up together.
Any time you stifle that competition, you allow stagnation or backsliding. You want the economy to grow - allow competition to flourish. Where does the government fit in all this? Well, mostly in not tampering! Stop enabling companies that are not competing well enough to stand on their own. You want to bail out companies that are in dire straits because they couldn't hack it on their own merits? How does that improve anything? GM needs a dramatic redirection to ever be truly solvent again. Companies have to answer to their employees and shareholders. They need profits to stick around. Politicians only need to look like they are helping enough constituents to get re-elected. Their goals are to provide a positive perception, whereas companies need a black bottom line.
There is a big difference there. The government is trying to tell the auto industry and the energy industry where to direct their science in the future. Elected politicians listening to lobbyists with deep pockets are trying to pretend they are arbitrary in their decrees about scientific and technological issues. Even in the defense industry, this doesn't work. We let our defense companies (at least partially) develop new technology and try to sell it to the government. The DOD never told Lockheed to make them a stealth plane. Lockheed built it, and then said, "Does this interest you to the tune of our prospective budget?" And so forth.
If the government wants to play, they need to break up giant conglomerates like Ma Bell to provide competition again. Mergers always head to monopolies either through joining with or squashing the competition. Even having a few choices where there were once many is not good enough. We need legitimate competition in every sector. That is what made America great. That is fosters a strong, powerful, successful, stable middle class - instability.
Just watch what happens to the stock market when Obama talks about the economy.
There are so many people who are so mad about some really goofy crap. Somehow, Obama convinced everyone that during previous administrations, corporate greed was directly the fault of the Whitehouse, but during his, corporate greed is some outside thing he is fighting personally.
AIG got a massive bailout a few years ago, and then when they gave various executives contractually agreed-upon bonuses, people freaked out. There were protests in people's yards. All the bonus recipients had to give the money back, or the out-of-work union people were gonna make 'em. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to suck at all the crap they do. They post losses continually. The government keeps giving them bailouts on the order of billions of dollars, and they keep giving their uppers big, fat bonuses. Where is the anger here? They are supposed to be able to be legitimately profitable, and yet they operate on taxpayer debt money. We don't even have the money to keep them in business.
There is this general pissed-off-ed-ness toward capitalism these days. People have it in their minds that capitalism and capitalists (in the Marxist, spit out of the corner of the mouth, pronunciation) are the source of all their woes. I would love to set America - and the world - straight on this:
Capitalism, in its actual sense, is not to blame here.
Giant conglomerate corporations are not capitalist. Being pro-business is not being pro-capitalist. Just because not every industry is nationalized does not mean we are capitalist. Every good modernization in life (and the bad ones, too) have come about because someone had an idea that would rock the boat, and they got the backing to develop it sufficiently to get it to market and let capitalism do its thing. Competition is capitalism. Mergers are not. Anything that degrades competition is anti-capitalist.
The problem is that SO many people want to blame the wealthy for the fact that the wealthy have seen more success than the masses. Even a lot of wealthy people like to jump on that bandwagon (*cough cough* Michael Moore). Look, wealthy people employ less-wealthy people. And when there is good competition, wages and work environment need to be just as competitive as the goods or services sold. And then everyone goes up together.
Any time you stifle that competition, you allow stagnation or backsliding. You want the economy to grow - allow competition to flourish. Where does the government fit in all this? Well, mostly in not tampering! Stop enabling companies that are not competing well enough to stand on their own. You want to bail out companies that are in dire straits because they couldn't hack it on their own merits? How does that improve anything? GM needs a dramatic redirection to ever be truly solvent again. Companies have to answer to their employees and shareholders. They need profits to stick around. Politicians only need to look like they are helping enough constituents to get re-elected. Their goals are to provide a positive perception, whereas companies need a black bottom line.
There is a big difference there. The government is trying to tell the auto industry and the energy industry where to direct their science in the future. Elected politicians listening to lobbyists with deep pockets are trying to pretend they are arbitrary in their decrees about scientific and technological issues. Even in the defense industry, this doesn't work. We let our defense companies (at least partially) develop new technology and try to sell it to the government. The DOD never told Lockheed to make them a stealth plane. Lockheed built it, and then said, "Does this interest you to the tune of our prospective budget?" And so forth.
If the government wants to play, they need to break up giant conglomerates like Ma Bell to provide competition again. Mergers always head to monopolies either through joining with or squashing the competition. Even having a few choices where there were once many is not good enough. We need legitimate competition in every sector. That is what made America great. That is fosters a strong, powerful, successful, stable middle class - instability.
Just watch what happens to the stock market when Obama talks about the economy.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
You have got to be kidding me...
So the president just described his witch hunt. If you haven't seen it, look on YouTube and find what President Obama said yesterday on the Today show about meeting with experts.
Did I miss the memo where it was decided we should have some cool president who can speak classlessly to go and "solve" all of our problems? The chief executive is in charge of executing our laws, right? I have always been under the assumption that the president is supposed to help dispense actual justice.
I am sickened. This is a mess, and the people in Washington have the gall to say that their extreme policies and procedures aren't the root of the problem of a further dividing America.
Also, I am really not sure how people think that it might turn out all right if our government takes over or more heavily regulates more and more of our economy. I don't get how people think it is sustainable that our government can employ more and more people and pay them more and more. The government does not create wealth and value in our country. They can only increase the number of people relying on a not-growing force of wealth-creaters. Wow.
Did I miss the memo where it was decided we should have some cool president who can speak classlessly to go and "solve" all of our problems? The chief executive is in charge of executing our laws, right? I have always been under the assumption that the president is supposed to help dispense actual justice.
I am sickened. This is a mess, and the people in Washington have the gall to say that their extreme policies and procedures aren't the root of the problem of a further dividing America.
Also, I am really not sure how people think that it might turn out all right if our government takes over or more heavily regulates more and more of our economy. I don't get how people think it is sustainable that our government can employ more and more people and pay them more and more. The government does not create wealth and value in our country. They can only increase the number of people relying on a not-growing force of wealth-creaters. Wow.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
I heart global warming
Global warming is a beautiful farce. It just plain isn't based in science and it is going to get us.
When I say "global warming," I am referring to the scary we'll-all-be-dead-in-100-years-unless-we-start-driving-Priuses-today stuff.
Is the earth in a warming trend? Maybe - but it depends on what timeline you are talking about. Over the last 10,000 years (as science and radio-carbon dating counts it)? Yes. 10,000 years ago we had mastodons in Texas, and I doubt they were going wild at South Padre Island in mid-March. But there were once glaciers covering much of America really far south. What happened to them? The earth warmed up! They melted!
My problem is not with the assertion that humans are effecting change. I firmly we believe we have impacted lots of things dramatically. Pollution has certainly provided acid rain and nasty smog. I think we should work to curtail harmful emissions - provided they are actually harmful.
Global warming is a complete fad that tends to be perpetrated by people who think the government should regulate more than they currently do. Or scientists looking to make a living. What ever happened with climategate? It seems to have vanished.
OK - here is the fun stuff. If CO2 is a problem, how much of that problem is caused by cars? Well, I'm glad you asked, too. about 2% of the world's co2 is from automobiles. So what will the effets be if we stop driving our cars? Not much, except a lot more people are going to be late for work. Should the government tell scientists and engineers that generations in the future will benefit if we make a bunch of battery-operated or -assisted vehicles - despite the fact that batteries are far more horrific (in nice measurable, specific ways) for the environment? My opinion is that the government doesn't know what we need better than the average American does.
Other fun fact - over the last few years, the earth has been cooling down a bit. Good evidence is what has been happening in Utah's winters the last few years. Naturally, the fad-ists have been claiming that this is "all part of the show." Now the fad term is "Climate Change."
Question: If the greenhouse gases (we know what greenhouses are used for, right? Warming things up?) are not warming up our planet despite an alarming increase in all of them, what exactly is the trouble with these "greenhouse gases?" My thinking is that if they are not greenhousing us, they are not the problem we accused them of being.
Side note - and statistics fans take note: Al Gore appeared before Congress about global warming, and he was asked if he knew that sometimes temperatures rises and then co2 levels rise. His response: "Yes, but sometimes it happens the other way around where co2 levels rise before the temperature." Wow.
If statistics are not your thing, I'll elucidate: that is an apparent correlation type of relationship. That means that co2 and temperature could very well be linked, but it is not a causal relationship. The evidence does not plainly show that increased co2 equals increased temperatures. In fact, it would seem that that has been thoroughly debunked scientifically, but I don't think this was ever about science.
Then there is the part about co2 being GOOD FOR NATURE!!! We are nowhere near approaching the levels required for being harmful to humans. But you should go on Youtube and watch plants exposed to double the amount of co2 - if you love nature, you find it your duty to buy a Lamborghini tomorrow just to save the trees.
The more legislation is talked about and passed in Washington, the more apparent all this becomes. It is easier to gain control of energy if you convince everyone (or legislate even without convincing the constituency) that energy is bad. Controlling energy controls a lot - both of power and money. That part is frightening.
But I am so tired of athletes, musicians, lawyers, and politicians telling me about this stuff that humans caused global warming - or, even better, climate change (whatever the ____ that even is). I saw a commercial a while ago with a basketball player saying, "It's a fact that humans caused global warming." It isn't. It simply is not a fact. It is a belief that is preached so vehemently that religious ministers could take notes and improve the ferocity of some good fire-and-brimstone sermonizing.
That being said, I like earth a lot. I think we should try to figure out how to wear coats made of something other than baby seal. I don't think that hunger is a good enough reason for hunting or fishing a species to extinction. I think more responsible farming practices could be practiced to avoid slash and burn tactics in rain forests. I think smog is gross and better gas mileage is good.
BUT - plastic is not bad. It is excellent energy storage we can use later (as fuel for burning - cleanly even). It is so much better than paper in that paper takes a lot of energy to process, and then if you don't hurry and burn it when you are done, it degrades, and you never get to use it. Petroleum is incredible. Gasoline is effective and fun as a means of motive force generation. Diesel is even more effective, but far less fun. Biofuels are great, and if we come up with good ways of manufacturing them without farming all the land in north america, that would be stellar. They are cleaner than petro-fuels, and obviously, they come from some living thing implying sustainability.
Anyway, I am going to make some cookies now with my wonderful gas-burning oven.
When I say "global warming," I am referring to the scary we'll-all-be-dead-in-100-years-unless-we-start-driving-Priuses-today stuff.
Is the earth in a warming trend? Maybe - but it depends on what timeline you are talking about. Over the last 10,000 years (as science and radio-carbon dating counts it)? Yes. 10,000 years ago we had mastodons in Texas, and I doubt they were going wild at South Padre Island in mid-March. But there were once glaciers covering much of America really far south. What happened to them? The earth warmed up! They melted!
My problem is not with the assertion that humans are effecting change. I firmly we believe we have impacted lots of things dramatically. Pollution has certainly provided acid rain and nasty smog. I think we should work to curtail harmful emissions - provided they are actually harmful.
Global warming is a complete fad that tends to be perpetrated by people who think the government should regulate more than they currently do. Or scientists looking to make a living. What ever happened with climategate? It seems to have vanished.
OK - here is the fun stuff. If CO2 is a problem, how much of that problem is caused by cars? Well, I'm glad you asked, too. about 2% of the world's co2 is from automobiles. So what will the effets be if we stop driving our cars? Not much, except a lot more people are going to be late for work. Should the government tell scientists and engineers that generations in the future will benefit if we make a bunch of battery-operated or -assisted vehicles - despite the fact that batteries are far more horrific (in nice measurable, specific ways) for the environment? My opinion is that the government doesn't know what we need better than the average American does.
Other fun fact - over the last few years, the earth has been cooling down a bit. Good evidence is what has been happening in Utah's winters the last few years. Naturally, the fad-ists have been claiming that this is "all part of the show." Now the fad term is "Climate Change."
Question: If the greenhouse gases (we know what greenhouses are used for, right? Warming things up?) are not warming up our planet despite an alarming increase in all of them, what exactly is the trouble with these "greenhouse gases?" My thinking is that if they are not greenhousing us, they are not the problem we accused them of being.
Side note - and statistics fans take note: Al Gore appeared before Congress about global warming, and he was asked if he knew that sometimes temperatures rises and then co2 levels rise. His response: "Yes, but sometimes it happens the other way around where co2 levels rise before the temperature." Wow.
If statistics are not your thing, I'll elucidate: that is an apparent correlation type of relationship. That means that co2 and temperature could very well be linked, but it is not a causal relationship. The evidence does not plainly show that increased co2 equals increased temperatures. In fact, it would seem that that has been thoroughly debunked scientifically, but I don't think this was ever about science.
Then there is the part about co2 being GOOD FOR NATURE!!! We are nowhere near approaching the levels required for being harmful to humans. But you should go on Youtube and watch plants exposed to double the amount of co2 - if you love nature, you find it your duty to buy a Lamborghini tomorrow just to save the trees.
The more legislation is talked about and passed in Washington, the more apparent all this becomes. It is easier to gain control of energy if you convince everyone (or legislate even without convincing the constituency) that energy is bad. Controlling energy controls a lot - both of power and money. That part is frightening.
But I am so tired of athletes, musicians, lawyers, and politicians telling me about this stuff that humans caused global warming - or, even better, climate change (whatever the ____ that even is). I saw a commercial a while ago with a basketball player saying, "It's a fact that humans caused global warming." It isn't. It simply is not a fact. It is a belief that is preached so vehemently that religious ministers could take notes and improve the ferocity of some good fire-and-brimstone sermonizing.
That being said, I like earth a lot. I think we should try to figure out how to wear coats made of something other than baby seal. I don't think that hunger is a good enough reason for hunting or fishing a species to extinction. I think more responsible farming practices could be practiced to avoid slash and burn tactics in rain forests. I think smog is gross and better gas mileage is good.
BUT - plastic is not bad. It is excellent energy storage we can use later (as fuel for burning - cleanly even). It is so much better than paper in that paper takes a lot of energy to process, and then if you don't hurry and burn it when you are done, it degrades, and you never get to use it. Petroleum is incredible. Gasoline is effective and fun as a means of motive force generation. Diesel is even more effective, but far less fun. Biofuels are great, and if we come up with good ways of manufacturing them without farming all the land in north america, that would be stellar. They are cleaner than petro-fuels, and obviously, they come from some living thing implying sustainability.
Anyway, I am going to make some cookies now with my wonderful gas-burning oven.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Warning: Conservative Political Rant
About a year ago, certain family members criticized me for being a little extreme when I said I was terrified of what Obama was going to do while in office. I defended myself by saying that the president firing the CEO of one of the largest corporations is terrifying in itself. The free market - though not truly free since government regulations first began in the beginning - truly began being in dire straits when a overstuffed lawyer with a title can start firing powerful businesspeople at will.
Since that time, the fear has increased for me. I have been watching Glenn Beck lately, though I used to decry him as an extremist naysayer and prophet of doom (like many people still do who have never actually watched him in action). He has been discussing a lot of disturbing things about all the Marxists - by their own admissions - in Obama's inner circle of advisors and friends. But I am not going to talk about the allegations - I am going to discuss actual happenings with news coverage and video.
Sunday, a protesting group of 500 members of SEIU - one of the largest unions in the country - gathered on the front porch and lawn of a Bank of America ATTORNEY. This was not some exec dealing in dirty loans - he was a lawyer handling some corporate law.
This mob convened illegally in the man's front yard yelling and chanting. Who was home? The man's 14 year old son. That's it. The man came home from a little league baseball game with his 12 year old son to find the scene. He parked down the street and had to go through the angry crowd to get to his son in the house.
I would imagine that if they tried that at the wrong house in Texas there would have been bloodshed - and I can only hope it wouldn't be the homeowner's family. It is trespassing! It is unconstitutional! That was not peaceable assembly on public land! That is a direct threat! What if someone turned violent. Mob mentality is real - that could have turned real ugly. The police were contacted, but they were afraid to push the crowd - they were afraid of the mob breaking the law and dangerously threatening a private citizen at his place of residence! That is not OK.
Further fun: The head of the SEIU is Andy Stern. Stern likes to talk about global governance and quote Marx ("Workers of the world: UNITE!"). Stern - leader of the group that committed this crime - is the most frequent visitor to the Obama White house.
Obama used to love campaigning on this premise of transparency. He said that when he enacted his healthcare, he would broadcast every second of the talks on CSPAN. I think most people know how that turned out. There were lots of back room dealings and closed door meetings. Every Republican in the House voted against it. Several Dems voted against it. Some planned to, then inexplicably changed their stance around the same time their states were guaranteed disproportionate amounts of money (I'm looking at you Nebraska). Obama started his presidency going on every talk show and news show to talk about how awesome his presidency was going to be. Then the random interviews on the White house premises stopped. Then Obama stopped doing his own press conferences. Then the administration started openly mocking Fox News and threatening to not allow them into press conferences. Now the White house has their own in-house news network. They have their own interview of the Supreme Court Justice nominee posted on the White house website, but no news agency is able to interview her. WTF?!?
And Healthcare! Sure, it WOULD be great if everyone had access to healthcare that was affordable and good. But why all the under-handed dealings. Why does the bill include the provision that all Federally guaranteed student loans would now be handled federally - no more states and private institutions making profits on a lucrative industry. Nope. The federal government, which has proven itself so able with money matters, figures it can outperform the private sector.
A certain uncle of mine thinks I am silly for thinking that the polls just before and after the passing of the bill in Congress should hold any sway with the federal politicians. Some polls were saying that as many as 75%+ of Americans OPPOSED the bill. Supporters barely outnumbered the confused.
I saw a video clip recently of Obama speaking when someone in the audience shouted something out. Obama responded by saying, "Who was that? You wanna come down here and say something?" I have decided that if I ever get a chance to shout something in a public forum like that and get called out, I know what I would say. I would say, "Mr. President - you believe in Democracy, yes? Humor me - these sound like rhetorical questions, but let's go ahead and answer them anyway, shall we? If you like democracy, and remember our country is a republic, why don't we make our legislative process a touch more democratic. How about you don't even let Congress vote on a bill unless a nationwide referendum shows 50%+ public opinion for the bill. Or is it worth asking if you have faith in the American people enough for that?"
Oh and the latest. The media is showing their true colors through their omissions now. Bush started some "faith-based initiatives" and the media went ballistic with regards to how unconstitutional it is. Separation of Church and State! The Founders were atheists and Deists! Christianity kills! Now what has Obama done? He has opened an EPA Faith office to provide funding for faith-based groups (churches) to go green. Caveats? Nothing major - they have to play by some rules the White House has laid out. The can't discriminate in their proselytizing. They can't discriminate in the hiring - in the eyes of the government, that is. The Federal government has already said that churches that get "too political" can lose their tax-exempt status. You can bet that does not apply to them preaching the party line, though. In fact, now that I think about it, Nancy Pelosi was shown - in a speech on video - bragging about religious leaders including archbishops and such pleading for her to push immigration reform. What did she tell them? "You need to preach it from your pulpits first." What? So...churches can be political all they want if it is in line with the party line. And Separation of Church and State is important - if we can keep that Christianity malignant fungus from infected the minds of our poor impressionable kids.
Incidentally, our Founders wanted the opposite. The Constitution with the Bill of Rights does not mention the Separation business. The only mention of it written anywhere from the Founders comes from Jefferson talking about the Anglican Church - which had a secular leader controlling the churches for political gain. The point of it was to protect religion from the State - not the other way around. The nefarious unfoldings of late are scary. And where is the media in talking about so many things so close to the White House being involved with such insidious events? Well, they do talk about Glenn Beck's delivery of his side of things. Did you know he gets riled up?!? I know what you're thinking. He is crazy, right?
Why are there so many Marxists so close to the President? Why does the administration deny allegations of socialism while its supporters (I'm looking at you Al Sharpton, and "Certain Uncle") say, "America voted for socialism when they voted for Obama," or "What is so wrong with 'socialism?'" Hmmmm...what is wrong indeed. Let's look at just a few examples of the redistribution of wealth and/or overblown entitlement and/or government takeovers of private industries. Well, we had the Bolshevik/Menshevik mess starting in 1917 - I always forget which was red and which was white and which one. We had Mussolini. Franco. Chavez. Guevarra. Hitler. Mao. Il-Song. Castro. Pol Pot. Whoever it was in Laos and Vietnam. Wait a minute - that seems like a lot of Government tskeover experiments. Shall we look at them? Are there any there you are not familiar with? Pol Pot ruled a fairly small country. How many deaths do they attribute him with, exactly? If I understand right, it is over a MILLION.
Social Justice is a farce. Justice is great - but the social part is the hangup. When do we start penalizing people for not "including" the unpopular kids? Why does everyone deserve a toilet? Do they? Don't they? Is that an inalienable right that we should march to protect? Call me crazy, but inalienable rights seem like they may be independent of time and technology. Do I think it would be great to have the whole world have indoor plumbing? Yes. Do I think we have a responsibility to help feed the poor? That depends. Who is we? Is it the government? No. They should keep us safe and do as little as possible to set up a safe free market. Do communities and churches and individuals? Maybe. But there is no help having a bunch of bureaucracy to filter the money and resources.
Has anyone else noticed the government has sucked at everything it has decided to run except the military. The military has a great track record when we don't hold them back. I happen to know that we have superiority like hasn't been seen since Genghis Khan. But when has the government actually done anything positive - unequivocally positive - with money? EVER?
The Constitution is under attack. Our own president has talked about how lacking it is. I can only hope that November brings some people to protect the Constitution.
Since that time, the fear has increased for me. I have been watching Glenn Beck lately, though I used to decry him as an extremist naysayer and prophet of doom (like many people still do who have never actually watched him in action). He has been discussing a lot of disturbing things about all the Marxists - by their own admissions - in Obama's inner circle of advisors and friends. But I am not going to talk about the allegations - I am going to discuss actual happenings with news coverage and video.
Sunday, a protesting group of 500 members of SEIU - one of the largest unions in the country - gathered on the front porch and lawn of a Bank of America ATTORNEY. This was not some exec dealing in dirty loans - he was a lawyer handling some corporate law.
This mob convened illegally in the man's front yard yelling and chanting. Who was home? The man's 14 year old son. That's it. The man came home from a little league baseball game with his 12 year old son to find the scene. He parked down the street and had to go through the angry crowd to get to his son in the house.
I would imagine that if they tried that at the wrong house in Texas there would have been bloodshed - and I can only hope it wouldn't be the homeowner's family. It is trespassing! It is unconstitutional! That was not peaceable assembly on public land! That is a direct threat! What if someone turned violent. Mob mentality is real - that could have turned real ugly. The police were contacted, but they were afraid to push the crowd - they were afraid of the mob breaking the law and dangerously threatening a private citizen at his place of residence! That is not OK.
Further fun: The head of the SEIU is Andy Stern. Stern likes to talk about global governance and quote Marx ("Workers of the world: UNITE!"). Stern - leader of the group that committed this crime - is the most frequent visitor to the Obama White house.
Obama used to love campaigning on this premise of transparency. He said that when he enacted his healthcare, he would broadcast every second of the talks on CSPAN. I think most people know how that turned out. There were lots of back room dealings and closed door meetings. Every Republican in the House voted against it. Several Dems voted against it. Some planned to, then inexplicably changed their stance around the same time their states were guaranteed disproportionate amounts of money (I'm looking at you Nebraska). Obama started his presidency going on every talk show and news show to talk about how awesome his presidency was going to be. Then the random interviews on the White house premises stopped. Then Obama stopped doing his own press conferences. Then the administration started openly mocking Fox News and threatening to not allow them into press conferences. Now the White house has their own in-house news network. They have their own interview of the Supreme Court Justice nominee posted on the White house website, but no news agency is able to interview her. WTF?!?
And Healthcare! Sure, it WOULD be great if everyone had access to healthcare that was affordable and good. But why all the under-handed dealings. Why does the bill include the provision that all Federally guaranteed student loans would now be handled federally - no more states and private institutions making profits on a lucrative industry. Nope. The federal government, which has proven itself so able with money matters, figures it can outperform the private sector.
A certain uncle of mine thinks I am silly for thinking that the polls just before and after the passing of the bill in Congress should hold any sway with the federal politicians. Some polls were saying that as many as 75%+ of Americans OPPOSED the bill. Supporters barely outnumbered the confused.
I saw a video clip recently of Obama speaking when someone in the audience shouted something out. Obama responded by saying, "Who was that? You wanna come down here and say something?" I have decided that if I ever get a chance to shout something in a public forum like that and get called out, I know what I would say. I would say, "Mr. President - you believe in Democracy, yes? Humor me - these sound like rhetorical questions, but let's go ahead and answer them anyway, shall we? If you like democracy, and remember our country is a republic, why don't we make our legislative process a touch more democratic. How about you don't even let Congress vote on a bill unless a nationwide referendum shows 50%+ public opinion for the bill. Or is it worth asking if you have faith in the American people enough for that?"
Oh and the latest. The media is showing their true colors through their omissions now. Bush started some "faith-based initiatives" and the media went ballistic with regards to how unconstitutional it is. Separation of Church and State! The Founders were atheists and Deists! Christianity kills! Now what has Obama done? He has opened an EPA Faith office to provide funding for faith-based groups (churches) to go green. Caveats? Nothing major - they have to play by some rules the White House has laid out. The can't discriminate in their proselytizing. They can't discriminate in the hiring - in the eyes of the government, that is. The Federal government has already said that churches that get "too political" can lose their tax-exempt status. You can bet that does not apply to them preaching the party line, though. In fact, now that I think about it, Nancy Pelosi was shown - in a speech on video - bragging about religious leaders including archbishops and such pleading for her to push immigration reform. What did she tell them? "You need to preach it from your pulpits first." What? So...churches can be political all they want if it is in line with the party line. And Separation of Church and State is important - if we can keep that Christianity malignant fungus from infected the minds of our poor impressionable kids.
Incidentally, our Founders wanted the opposite. The Constitution with the Bill of Rights does not mention the Separation business. The only mention of it written anywhere from the Founders comes from Jefferson talking about the Anglican Church - which had a secular leader controlling the churches for political gain. The point of it was to protect religion from the State - not the other way around. The nefarious unfoldings of late are scary. And where is the media in talking about so many things so close to the White House being involved with such insidious events? Well, they do talk about Glenn Beck's delivery of his side of things. Did you know he gets riled up?!? I know what you're thinking. He is crazy, right?
Why are there so many Marxists so close to the President? Why does the administration deny allegations of socialism while its supporters (I'm looking at you Al Sharpton, and "Certain Uncle") say, "America voted for socialism when they voted for Obama," or "What is so wrong with 'socialism?'" Hmmmm...what is wrong indeed. Let's look at just a few examples of the redistribution of wealth and/or overblown entitlement and/or government takeovers of private industries. Well, we had the Bolshevik/Menshevik mess starting in 1917 - I always forget which was red and which was white and which one. We had Mussolini. Franco. Chavez. Guevarra. Hitler. Mao. Il-Song. Castro. Pol Pot. Whoever it was in Laos and Vietnam. Wait a minute - that seems like a lot of Government tskeover experiments. Shall we look at them? Are there any there you are not familiar with? Pol Pot ruled a fairly small country. How many deaths do they attribute him with, exactly? If I understand right, it is over a MILLION.
Social Justice is a farce. Justice is great - but the social part is the hangup. When do we start penalizing people for not "including" the unpopular kids? Why does everyone deserve a toilet? Do they? Don't they? Is that an inalienable right that we should march to protect? Call me crazy, but inalienable rights seem like they may be independent of time and technology. Do I think it would be great to have the whole world have indoor plumbing? Yes. Do I think we have a responsibility to help feed the poor? That depends. Who is we? Is it the government? No. They should keep us safe and do as little as possible to set up a safe free market. Do communities and churches and individuals? Maybe. But there is no help having a bunch of bureaucracy to filter the money and resources.
Has anyone else noticed the government has sucked at everything it has decided to run except the military. The military has a great track record when we don't hold them back. I happen to know that we have superiority like hasn't been seen since Genghis Khan. But when has the government actually done anything positive - unequivocally positive - with money? EVER?
The Constitution is under attack. Our own president has talked about how lacking it is. I can only hope that November brings some people to protect the Constitution.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Updates on mundane crap
I haven't blogged in a while - I didn't check what the last thing I wrote was. Well, I am working and chilling at home without any drama happening at all. So I will update the two people who read my blog as a replacement for sheep-counting on recent details.
I started the Chocolate Society last month, so people like me can meet together to talk about chocolate. I have gotten a lot of people into chocolate over the last year and a half. I am frankly a little tired of introducing people to the good stuff and answering the same questions and half-heartedly grinning at little jokes about Hershey's. I want to supplement that with some snobbily in-depth conversation about the finer nuances of chocolate. So I started a society for people like me to do exactly that.
Also, I have been growing my beard for about 2 months - maybe 2 1/2, and it is getting pretty grizzly. I have trimmed it, but it is still pretty scraggly. It is funny because I can see people looking at me like I might be crazy, so strangers often act carefully. People I barely know complement my beard all the time. I have gotten the strongest compliments from co-workers including my boss's boss's boss. And now I plan to shave it. Carrie hates it with some burning kind of passion. But I want to keep growing my hair out.
I have gotten a couple new guitar amps this year. I got a cute little Vox 4 Watt tube amp that sounds really good, but is feature-lite. It has a volume knob, and "tone" knob (that doesn't have all that much effect considering it is the only tone control I have) and a 3-position rotary selection switch to allow full power, 1 Watt, or 1/10 Watt so I can get full tubey sound at a volume suitable for sleeping children. It is very cool.
Shortly after getting that amp, I got an Epiphone Blues Custom 30 that can switch between 30W Class A/B or 15W Class A. I did a lot of reading to find out the difference between Class A and Class A/B, and the difference in sound is subtle. The lower power setting mostly is just quieter - but not by as much as you'd think. Both of the amps look really retro which is in keeping with their rather old-school design and sound. The Epi is crazy loud, and I got to jam with it the day after I got it. I look forward to getting to jam with some guys at work soon. Our musical styles are disparate in a lot of ways, but we have a lot in common as well. I just really don't want to sound like another indie extension of the late 60's. When I play electric, I tend to have a funky and/or heavy style. I like weird rhythms that are somewhat difficult to bob your head to, though they do feel very groovy. We'll see how that goes. I would like to record some just for kicks.
I have been getting into vinyl lately - that's right - records. I got a bunch of "classical" records for free last year when BYU's library was just giving it away. I got some Baroque, but mostly Romantic and Modern stuff from several of my favorite composers including Rachmaninoff and Saint-Saens. But the turning point for actually buying a record player was when I went to a local music store and saw a copy of The Company Band's first full-length. TCB has the singer from Clutch (my favorite band), the drummer from CKY, and others. I bought the record without either a record player or having heard the songs at all. It felt so old-school. I later got a cheap little record player, and I have been plugging it into my Epi guitar amp (and only getting the left channel). Between the analog record and tube amplifier and decent (though not properly-voiced for the application) speakers, it sounds awesome. I have had two friends who both said they don't hear the difference between different quality soundsystems or different guitars or amps and the like say that it sounds amazing. It has so much more detail and dimension - it is incredible. I plan on buying a kit to make an actual stereo tube amp for audio, and then I may make my own speaker boxes, too. I have bought a few records since then, and I hope to have a decent record collection before too long. But I have a lot of important and more useful things to pay for in the meantime.
I decided recently that I am an adrenaline enthusiast. I would say that I am an adrenaline junkie - but that is far more extreme than where I actually am. I have also figured that I have been having an insane lack of adrenaline in my life lately, and it is wearying me. It seems a little backwards that a lack of excitement would tire me out, but I need a balance. And without a fast car or bike or other forms of adrenalizing, I feel the lack. I don't know what to do about it. I am hoping that jamming with people and making a lot of noise will help.
Oddly, we are planning to get a minivan soon, and I am excited about that. I like getting a new vehicle, and I think minivans are the pinnacle of practicality. With baby number 3 on the way, we will need to have a place to put the child during transport. I would much rather have a minivan than some big, stupid SUV we won't use for anything beyond minivan use. That said, part of me would like an off-road vehicle of some sort. Like a rock-crawler. Or a pre-runner truck. Or a mildly-rally-prepped car. Or a dual-sport adventure bike.
Yesterday, I test-rode a Triumph Speed Triple, and it was a lot of fun. I expected it to scare me, but I think my size reigns in the acceleration a little too much for real drama. I was kind of expecting it to take my breath away upon accelerating. It didn't. But it was still really fast, comfortable, and sporty. It was easy to ride, though I haven't really ridden in a year. It was really comfortable below about 80 mph, and then it just got loud and windy above that which is no surprise as it has no wind protection at all. Last May, after riding my friends Ninja for a month, I think my perspective has changed dramatically about speed. The bike I rode yesterday had similar power, and I am actually sorta used to acceleration like that. But it was still exhilarating, and I felt really cheerful and content for several hours afterward. Though I was painfully aware later of really slow people blocking my progress.
Naomi was punched in the mouth by a doll she was holding recently, and it knocked her tooth loose. She is 5 1/2 and she got her teeth really early, so it may just be time to start losing teeth. We were worried, and the dentist took an X-ray and said that there is still a root holding on, but don't be alarmed if it falls out or not. She got beat up by a doll she was holding! It would have been funny if her mouth hadn't been bleeding.
Well, that is some of the most pointless mindless drivel I have written in recent memory, so enjoy that. Anyway, that's it.
I started the Chocolate Society last month, so people like me can meet together to talk about chocolate. I have gotten a lot of people into chocolate over the last year and a half. I am frankly a little tired of introducing people to the good stuff and answering the same questions and half-heartedly grinning at little jokes about Hershey's. I want to supplement that with some snobbily in-depth conversation about the finer nuances of chocolate. So I started a society for people like me to do exactly that.
Also, I have been growing my beard for about 2 months - maybe 2 1/2, and it is getting pretty grizzly. I have trimmed it, but it is still pretty scraggly. It is funny because I can see people looking at me like I might be crazy, so strangers often act carefully. People I barely know complement my beard all the time. I have gotten the strongest compliments from co-workers including my boss's boss's boss. And now I plan to shave it. Carrie hates it with some burning kind of passion. But I want to keep growing my hair out.
I have gotten a couple new guitar amps this year. I got a cute little Vox 4 Watt tube amp that sounds really good, but is feature-lite. It has a volume knob, and "tone" knob (that doesn't have all that much effect considering it is the only tone control I have) and a 3-position rotary selection switch to allow full power, 1 Watt, or 1/10 Watt so I can get full tubey sound at a volume suitable for sleeping children. It is very cool.
Shortly after getting that amp, I got an Epiphone Blues Custom 30 that can switch between 30W Class A/B or 15W Class A. I did a lot of reading to find out the difference between Class A and Class A/B, and the difference in sound is subtle. The lower power setting mostly is just quieter - but not by as much as you'd think. Both of the amps look really retro which is in keeping with their rather old-school design and sound. The Epi is crazy loud, and I got to jam with it the day after I got it. I look forward to getting to jam with some guys at work soon. Our musical styles are disparate in a lot of ways, but we have a lot in common as well. I just really don't want to sound like another indie extension of the late 60's. When I play electric, I tend to have a funky and/or heavy style. I like weird rhythms that are somewhat difficult to bob your head to, though they do feel very groovy. We'll see how that goes. I would like to record some just for kicks.
I have been getting into vinyl lately - that's right - records. I got a bunch of "classical" records for free last year when BYU's library was just giving it away. I got some Baroque, but mostly Romantic and Modern stuff from several of my favorite composers including Rachmaninoff and Saint-Saens. But the turning point for actually buying a record player was when I went to a local music store and saw a copy of The Company Band's first full-length. TCB has the singer from Clutch (my favorite band), the drummer from CKY, and others. I bought the record without either a record player or having heard the songs at all. It felt so old-school. I later got a cheap little record player, and I have been plugging it into my Epi guitar amp (and only getting the left channel). Between the analog record and tube amplifier and decent (though not properly-voiced for the application) speakers, it sounds awesome. I have had two friends who both said they don't hear the difference between different quality soundsystems or different guitars or amps and the like say that it sounds amazing. It has so much more detail and dimension - it is incredible. I plan on buying a kit to make an actual stereo tube amp for audio, and then I may make my own speaker boxes, too. I have bought a few records since then, and I hope to have a decent record collection before too long. But I have a lot of important and more useful things to pay for in the meantime.
I decided recently that I am an adrenaline enthusiast. I would say that I am an adrenaline junkie - but that is far more extreme than where I actually am. I have also figured that I have been having an insane lack of adrenaline in my life lately, and it is wearying me. It seems a little backwards that a lack of excitement would tire me out, but I need a balance. And without a fast car or bike or other forms of adrenalizing, I feel the lack. I don't know what to do about it. I am hoping that jamming with people and making a lot of noise will help.
Oddly, we are planning to get a minivan soon, and I am excited about that. I like getting a new vehicle, and I think minivans are the pinnacle of practicality. With baby number 3 on the way, we will need to have a place to put the child during transport. I would much rather have a minivan than some big, stupid SUV we won't use for anything beyond minivan use. That said, part of me would like an off-road vehicle of some sort. Like a rock-crawler. Or a pre-runner truck. Or a mildly-rally-prepped car. Or a dual-sport adventure bike.
Yesterday, I test-rode a Triumph Speed Triple, and it was a lot of fun. I expected it to scare me, but I think my size reigns in the acceleration a little too much for real drama. I was kind of expecting it to take my breath away upon accelerating. It didn't. But it was still really fast, comfortable, and sporty. It was easy to ride, though I haven't really ridden in a year. It was really comfortable below about 80 mph, and then it just got loud and windy above that which is no surprise as it has no wind protection at all. Last May, after riding my friends Ninja for a month, I think my perspective has changed dramatically about speed. The bike I rode yesterday had similar power, and I am actually sorta used to acceleration like that. But it was still exhilarating, and I felt really cheerful and content for several hours afterward. Though I was painfully aware later of really slow people blocking my progress.
Naomi was punched in the mouth by a doll she was holding recently, and it knocked her tooth loose. She is 5 1/2 and she got her teeth really early, so it may just be time to start losing teeth. We were worried, and the dentist took an X-ray and said that there is still a root holding on, but don't be alarmed if it falls out or not. She got beat up by a doll she was holding! It would have been funny if her mouth hadn't been bleeding.
Well, that is some of the most pointless mindless drivel I have written in recent memory, so enjoy that. Anyway, that's it.
Friday, September 25, 2009
home madness
Wednesday, we put an offer on a house in North Salt Lake in the evening. That night, the seller countered by raising $2K but leaving in all the appliances we asked for and maintaining paying closing costs. We accepted so we are under contract for the end of next month! More details as they develop.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Brian the baker
I am letting my first ever from-scratch bread (some French-style-ish) rise before I bake it. I just made butter using only cream, Kosher salt, and my Magic Bullet. I am pretty stoked to eat my bread - I bet it will be good.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Tired
I thought about writing this in the family blog, but I don't think I have it in me. I am just really tired of some things. I am tired of how we treat each other in my family - and I especially mean me. I think I am most tired of how I treat others in my own family. I feel like I am a totally different person when contrasted to how I acted growing up, but my family wouldn't know it. The instant I get around people in my family, I revert to hormonal, pubescent me, and it kills me. I am so sick of not knowing how to be what I consider the real me around people I ought to be closest to. I feel like I have pushed away my family for my entire life - never letting them see what is actually happening inside me.
The reasons are many, I'm sure, and I have thought of some and probably missed several. But the reasons are inconsequential, I think. Carrie has seen me for real, and she hasn't even left yet. Credit that woman with some patience - and then whatever it is that keeps her around after the patience has been worn away to the bone. I have some friends who have seen some real parts of me. I have had some therapists see real bits of me. But I don't feel like I have ever opened up to my family any substantial part of me.
I am really tired of not being able to get along with my siblings. I don't know where the need to compete and argue with them comes from, but I freaking hate it. I am filled with regret every time I have some heated argument about some crap that could not matter less. Why do I waste that time? Where does it come from? Is it because there is some unspoken set of rules that dictates we must be complete jerks to each other? I feel like I can disagree with Chanda and be totally fine with it - like I don't have to win. At least most of the time. But with everyone else (except Cherish - we should hang) I feel this need to win the conversation - even if it starts about some menial topic with no sides at all to take. I feel this pressing need to be accepted and respected and maybe feared or something, and I feel the struggle to be some mysterious "someone" around my family - and it honestly makes no real sense to me. I can see where some of it comes from, like I said, but I don't understand why.
Maybe I'm not alone in feeling some of these things, but whether anyone else feels happy or sad, vindicated or guilty, makes no difference to the fact that I feel downright shameful about some of the things I have done and said to my own blood. I bring this up, because I don't know how strong the blood tie even feels to me at this point. I don't feel really close to any of my siblings or parents. I feel like I want to, but I'm not actually there. I feel like for so much of my life I discounted and discredited things that matter so much more than things I aggrandized. I thought that a well-thought-out logical defense of a point trumped emotions. I have been such a douche. I need to talk to all of my siblings and parents and apologize to them. Sure, there are things that still smart from experiences with all of them, but I have no business waiting for an apology before I apologize. I don't want to put out a blanket apology on here - that seems so petty and cheap.
I think it would be cool to be actually close with my family - the way I want to be. I admit that I feel a little paralysis in thinking about actually making the jump to be where I would like to be with my family. I admit it is pretty lame that I am blogging about this. I admit I am a wuss. I feel pathetic and weak by not being able to just buck up and make things right and good between me and my family. I don't want to say that is wrong or right - only that I am feeling those things. I definitely feel like I am not getting anywhere in this chain of thought anymore, so I will just stop.
The reasons are many, I'm sure, and I have thought of some and probably missed several. But the reasons are inconsequential, I think. Carrie has seen me for real, and she hasn't even left yet. Credit that woman with some patience - and then whatever it is that keeps her around after the patience has been worn away to the bone. I have some friends who have seen some real parts of me. I have had some therapists see real bits of me. But I don't feel like I have ever opened up to my family any substantial part of me.
I am really tired of not being able to get along with my siblings. I don't know where the need to compete and argue with them comes from, but I freaking hate it. I am filled with regret every time I have some heated argument about some crap that could not matter less. Why do I waste that time? Where does it come from? Is it because there is some unspoken set of rules that dictates we must be complete jerks to each other? I feel like I can disagree with Chanda and be totally fine with it - like I don't have to win. At least most of the time. But with everyone else (except Cherish - we should hang) I feel this need to win the conversation - even if it starts about some menial topic with no sides at all to take. I feel this pressing need to be accepted and respected and maybe feared or something, and I feel the struggle to be some mysterious "someone" around my family - and it honestly makes no real sense to me. I can see where some of it comes from, like I said, but I don't understand why.
Maybe I'm not alone in feeling some of these things, but whether anyone else feels happy or sad, vindicated or guilty, makes no difference to the fact that I feel downright shameful about some of the things I have done and said to my own blood. I bring this up, because I don't know how strong the blood tie even feels to me at this point. I don't feel really close to any of my siblings or parents. I feel like I want to, but I'm not actually there. I feel like for so much of my life I discounted and discredited things that matter so much more than things I aggrandized. I thought that a well-thought-out logical defense of a point trumped emotions. I have been such a douche. I need to talk to all of my siblings and parents and apologize to them. Sure, there are things that still smart from experiences with all of them, but I have no business waiting for an apology before I apologize. I don't want to put out a blanket apology on here - that seems so petty and cheap.
I think it would be cool to be actually close with my family - the way I want to be. I admit that I feel a little paralysis in thinking about actually making the jump to be where I would like to be with my family. I admit it is pretty lame that I am blogging about this. I admit I am a wuss. I feel pathetic and weak by not being able to just buck up and make things right and good between me and my family. I don't want to say that is wrong or right - only that I am feeling those things. I definitely feel like I am not getting anywhere in this chain of thought anymore, so I will just stop.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Pictures from yesterday
Here are the pictures from yesterday's ride. The other dude is my buddy Matt Schroeder, and the red Honda Super Hawk is his. The orange bike is another friend's (Adam), and it is the Kawasaki ZX-7R he is letting me borrow for a while. Enjoy!
This clearly shows the snow that blocked our path a few miles up the Alpine Loop. Hence the thumb pointed downward.
Matt and his bike.
A little Utah Valley view action below us at the Squaw Peak Overlook.
Behold the 90's!
This clearly shows the snow that blocked our path a few miles up the Alpine Loop. Hence the thumb pointed downward.
Matt and his bike.
A little Utah Valley view action below us at the Squaw Peak Overlook.
Behold the 90's!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
I love t-shirts
So I always have ideas for T-shirts. If anyone has any feedback, I would love it. Here are two - unless I think of any others:
I'm not from Utah
Miltantly Moderate
Here is one of my favorite T-shirts of all time. Enjoy!
I'm not from Utah
Miltantly Moderate
Here is one of my favorite T-shirts of all time. Enjoy!
Lots of milk before today's entree
This morning I went for the most awesome ride of my short riding career. Riding my foolish buddy's Kawasaki ZX-7R 750cc bullet bike, I met up with a friend at a local gas station and headed out for some brisk canyon air.
First stop was Squaw Peak Road - and by "stop" I mean dashing up the mountain. It was some kinda crazy because there was the occasional gravel, and I haven't actually been all the way up the road in at least a year and a half. I took it easy on every turn because a) I am new to this thing, b) there could be gravel, c) there could be people or suicidal longboarders and d) I am new.
I got to lean over good and far - and that is awesome. I was deluded into thinking that I was over far enough to be able to scrape my knee if I were to stick it out. My friend, Matt, told me, "no." The air was crisp enough to keep the engine very cool even without the fan - I would have to stop for a while to get the engine anywhere beyond warm. At the top of the mountain - well, at the overlook parking lot - the bikes looked glorious together. Well, they looked like relics from the mid-90's in their bright orange and red paint. My wrists were already aching, but I had a ways to go.
I followed Matt down the mountain, and it was mildly frightening. It was so much steeper going down the mountain on a bike than ever before - except that time in a Jeep with bad brakes. For those who don't know, Squaw Peak Road twists up the side of a mountain just East of North Provo. The road has no guardrail, and it has lots of what rally drivers call "exposures." This means cliffs next to the road that mean certain levels of dismemberment at least - but more likely death. This is where the fear and the carefulness came from. People ride and drive and skate it all the time, and I never hear of people getting hurt. That said, I have considered killing some brazenly stupid skaters with a well-timed smack. Actually, just a really hard smack at any time. But I digress.
From the bottom of Squaw Peak Road, we zipped farther into the canyon to the road that leads up to the Alpine Loop and past Sundance. Heading down Provo Canyon was intense. The road was very bumpy, and sitting down through all that was a little unnerving at the speeds we were going. So I stood up just a little bit, and suddenly the bike settles down, I stopped bouncing, and the game got less interesting - which was good at this juncture.
At last we past the tunnel and turned on the road we were aiming for. Matt was still leading, so he was setting a pace that was both comfortable and challenging. It was pretty cool. I left the bike in third at about 60 mph or so when I slowed enough to check. The scenery was beautiful, but the stream was off the opposite side of the road, so I didn't get a glimpse until on the way down. We slowed slightly as we passed the resorts and camping areas and stuff, and we got up to the gate to the famed Alpine Loop. Which was closed save for a small opening for hikers and bikers. And us.
The first few hundred yards were littered with pine cones - thickly. Pine cones are in the same neighborhood as wet leaves, but a few blocks away from ball bearings. Then we came to our first large branch across the road followed by a big patch of snow blocking progress for the weak. We slowed down and slipped through a narrow gap in the snow. The road was narrow and smattered with branches and pine cones and the occasional snow patch, but as we continued on, the snow became more prevalent. And the snow invovled us tiptoeing across an 8" strip of wet pavement between thick snow and plunging canyon depths. After several of these we came to a portion that was blocked off for at least a hundred feet to the next turn and presumably beyond. We stopped there for a while before we headed back.
I led on the way back, and I kept things tame - going back to the newness and fear stuff. As we headed down the larger road, the first 2 or three cars either moved to the side to let us pass ot turned somewhere else. But then we came up to the back of a BMW X5 SUV. We came up to his tailpipe quickly, and then instead of moving over, he took off. Impressively, following behind this person saw us turning up the pace from what we were doing before, but it also lowered the stakes because I knew that whatever it could do, I could, too. This relaxing feature of the chase gave me time enough to see the rushing stream next to me - and it was stunning. Then I looked back to the road.
The guy must have lived on the road somewhere, because he only hit his brakes once while I chased him, and it was quite the road with even a few blind turns. At the bottom, I pulled right behond him as he turned down the road, and I blasted behind him, passing him on the left. Matt and I never saw him again as we zipped out, but we both decide the Bimmer dude was awesome. I guess Matt has ridden that road a lot, and he said he had never seen anybody on 4 wheels take that road that fast before. So props to the Bimmer.
It is really incredible to take 85 mph turns leaning a ways, and it sticks with you. The endorphins chased away a lot of stress. The only real downside is the noise - I should have brought earplugs because that was stinkin loud.
Matt and I stopped where we started - at the gas station by the stadium. After reliving the better parts of the ride, and celebrating the X5 some more, we discussed fun issues with having babies - his wife is due for their first next month, and went home. And it was awesome.
First stop was Squaw Peak Road - and by "stop" I mean dashing up the mountain. It was some kinda crazy because there was the occasional gravel, and I haven't actually been all the way up the road in at least a year and a half. I took it easy on every turn because a) I am new to this thing, b) there could be gravel, c) there could be people or suicidal longboarders and d) I am new.
I got to lean over good and far - and that is awesome. I was deluded into thinking that I was over far enough to be able to scrape my knee if I were to stick it out. My friend, Matt, told me, "no." The air was crisp enough to keep the engine very cool even without the fan - I would have to stop for a while to get the engine anywhere beyond warm. At the top of the mountain - well, at the overlook parking lot - the bikes looked glorious together. Well, they looked like relics from the mid-90's in their bright orange and red paint. My wrists were already aching, but I had a ways to go.
I followed Matt down the mountain, and it was mildly frightening. It was so much steeper going down the mountain on a bike than ever before - except that time in a Jeep with bad brakes. For those who don't know, Squaw Peak Road twists up the side of a mountain just East of North Provo. The road has no guardrail, and it has lots of what rally drivers call "exposures." This means cliffs next to the road that mean certain levels of dismemberment at least - but more likely death. This is where the fear and the carefulness came from. People ride and drive and skate it all the time, and I never hear of people getting hurt. That said, I have considered killing some brazenly stupid skaters with a well-timed smack. Actually, just a really hard smack at any time. But I digress.
From the bottom of Squaw Peak Road, we zipped farther into the canyon to the road that leads up to the Alpine Loop and past Sundance. Heading down Provo Canyon was intense. The road was very bumpy, and sitting down through all that was a little unnerving at the speeds we were going. So I stood up just a little bit, and suddenly the bike settles down, I stopped bouncing, and the game got less interesting - which was good at this juncture.
At last we past the tunnel and turned on the road we were aiming for. Matt was still leading, so he was setting a pace that was both comfortable and challenging. It was pretty cool. I left the bike in third at about 60 mph or so when I slowed enough to check. The scenery was beautiful, but the stream was off the opposite side of the road, so I didn't get a glimpse until on the way down. We slowed slightly as we passed the resorts and camping areas and stuff, and we got up to the gate to the famed Alpine Loop. Which was closed save for a small opening for hikers and bikers. And us.
The first few hundred yards were littered with pine cones - thickly. Pine cones are in the same neighborhood as wet leaves, but a few blocks away from ball bearings. Then we came to our first large branch across the road followed by a big patch of snow blocking progress for the weak. We slowed down and slipped through a narrow gap in the snow. The road was narrow and smattered with branches and pine cones and the occasional snow patch, but as we continued on, the snow became more prevalent. And the snow invovled us tiptoeing across an 8" strip of wet pavement between thick snow and plunging canyon depths. After several of these we came to a portion that was blocked off for at least a hundred feet to the next turn and presumably beyond. We stopped there for a while before we headed back.
I led on the way back, and I kept things tame - going back to the newness and fear stuff. As we headed down the larger road, the first 2 or three cars either moved to the side to let us pass ot turned somewhere else. But then we came up to the back of a BMW X5 SUV. We came up to his tailpipe quickly, and then instead of moving over, he took off. Impressively, following behind this person saw us turning up the pace from what we were doing before, but it also lowered the stakes because I knew that whatever it could do, I could, too. This relaxing feature of the chase gave me time enough to see the rushing stream next to me - and it was stunning. Then I looked back to the road.
The guy must have lived on the road somewhere, because he only hit his brakes once while I chased him, and it was quite the road with even a few blind turns. At the bottom, I pulled right behond him as he turned down the road, and I blasted behind him, passing him on the left. Matt and I never saw him again as we zipped out, but we both decide the Bimmer dude was awesome. I guess Matt has ridden that road a lot, and he said he had never seen anybody on 4 wheels take that road that fast before. So props to the Bimmer.
It is really incredible to take 85 mph turns leaning a ways, and it sticks with you. The endorphins chased away a lot of stress. The only real downside is the noise - I should have brought earplugs because that was stinkin loud.
Matt and I stopped where we started - at the gas station by the stadium. After reliving the better parts of the ride, and celebrating the X5 some more, we discussed fun issues with having babies - his wife is due for their first next month, and went home. And it was awesome.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Motostatus
So I sold my motorcycle a couple of weeks ago for considerably less than I could have a year ago. I would miss it more, except a friend let me borrow his bike for a month while he is in Jersey for a month.
I am currently riding a 2002 Kawasaki ZX-7R 750cc bullet bike. The thing is capable of being a monster, but it can also be quite benign. Theoretically, it is capable of 171 mph, but I have not yet topped 100. It was once a bright, iridescent orange with tinges of yellow from certain angles. Now it largely still is the same, but with some sun-faded salmony-pink spots.
I will be posting pictures at some point, but I will just share some impressions now. The thing is fast. It flat scoots. I don't exactly know how to launch a bike properly, and I don't want to do that to my friend's bike he is so generously lending to me, so I just take off slowly from a standstill and roll on the throttle once underway. And then the magic happens.
Riding the Zx-7R down the street is rather like how I would imagine puttering a full-blown racing car around town. It handles plenty sweetly at normal, sane speeds, and the engine works great at low revs and small throttle openings. The on-off throttle transition, sometimes snatchy on fuel-injected bikes, is smooth as silk thanks to the old, tried and tested carburetion. This of course means that mornings after chilly nights requiring pulling the choke lever, but it gets warm enough for low-speed operation quickly.
With the bike in a relatively high gear and with relatively low revs, the engine pulls hard when the time comes to pass someone. It accelerates in exactly the same way I would ideally want a car to do in normal traffic. If I want to get around someone, I just get past them with no shifting - regardless of whether some ego trip sees them wanting me to not pass them. If I let the revs climb, acceleration goes from quick to manic.
A few times, I have let the revs zoom past 10,000, and it gets scary. My vision goes tunnel-ly, adrenaline pumps, and I split my vision between the road and making sure the revs don't pass the 12,500 rpm redline. The engine peaks at 126 hp somewhere in the upper reaches there, and I can feel every one of them ponies. The chassis is solid and comfortable, but it is rather heavy by today's standards which all but disappears at speed.
Shifting gears is beautiful on the Kawi. The gearbox feels accurate and positive, although when it warms up, I sometimes shift into neutral instead of 1st or 2nd. I haven't done much fun turning, but I hope to hit up Squaw Peak Road this weekend with some buddies. What I have done has shown me that the bike likes to turn and likes leaning. If I was more of a rider with real riding pants on my own bike, the width of the bike would probably prove a liability. This is easily the widest bike I have ridden yet. That said, I don't expect to scratch the peg feelers anytime too soon.
It has an almost bizarre feeling in the turns; it feels comfortable and yet unstable at the same time. It feels good to turn, but it always feels ready for something different like it doesn't want to do steady-state cornering. The steering is a little heavy, but so am I, and I don't mind applying a little heft to the bars to get the machine cranked over.
It is fun to put some work into a little ride and get some adrenaline pumping, and then come back down to earth. I like to get a little scared at the intimidating acceleration, and come home and have a neighbor casually ask how things are going. In my mind, I am thinking about the intensity of the experience I just had, but it can't be related. I say, "I'm good," kind of chuckling to myself about how excited I feel or felt. I didn't really have any idea what kind of performance was actually available for any old punk with the jonesing to go fast.
I know some gullible, trusting people who let me ride some intense machinery. The irony is that the bikes people don't let me ride are generally far tamer than the ones I can borrow for an extended time. I can't fault anybody for not wanting a still relatively inexperienced yahoo on their baby, but the paradox is startling. That said, having friends who let me ride extreme near-race bikes for a month at a time more than makes up for it.
I am currently riding a 2002 Kawasaki ZX-7R 750cc bullet bike. The thing is capable of being a monster, but it can also be quite benign. Theoretically, it is capable of 171 mph, but I have not yet topped 100. It was once a bright, iridescent orange with tinges of yellow from certain angles. Now it largely still is the same, but with some sun-faded salmony-pink spots.
I will be posting pictures at some point, but I will just share some impressions now. The thing is fast. It flat scoots. I don't exactly know how to launch a bike properly, and I don't want to do that to my friend's bike he is so generously lending to me, so I just take off slowly from a standstill and roll on the throttle once underway. And then the magic happens.
Riding the Zx-7R down the street is rather like how I would imagine puttering a full-blown racing car around town. It handles plenty sweetly at normal, sane speeds, and the engine works great at low revs and small throttle openings. The on-off throttle transition, sometimes snatchy on fuel-injected bikes, is smooth as silk thanks to the old, tried and tested carburetion. This of course means that mornings after chilly nights requiring pulling the choke lever, but it gets warm enough for low-speed operation quickly.
With the bike in a relatively high gear and with relatively low revs, the engine pulls hard when the time comes to pass someone. It accelerates in exactly the same way I would ideally want a car to do in normal traffic. If I want to get around someone, I just get past them with no shifting - regardless of whether some ego trip sees them wanting me to not pass them. If I let the revs climb, acceleration goes from quick to manic.
A few times, I have let the revs zoom past 10,000, and it gets scary. My vision goes tunnel-ly, adrenaline pumps, and I split my vision between the road and making sure the revs don't pass the 12,500 rpm redline. The engine peaks at 126 hp somewhere in the upper reaches there, and I can feel every one of them ponies. The chassis is solid and comfortable, but it is rather heavy by today's standards which all but disappears at speed.
Shifting gears is beautiful on the Kawi. The gearbox feels accurate and positive, although when it warms up, I sometimes shift into neutral instead of 1st or 2nd. I haven't done much fun turning, but I hope to hit up Squaw Peak Road this weekend with some buddies. What I have done has shown me that the bike likes to turn and likes leaning. If I was more of a rider with real riding pants on my own bike, the width of the bike would probably prove a liability. This is easily the widest bike I have ridden yet. That said, I don't expect to scratch the peg feelers anytime too soon.
It has an almost bizarre feeling in the turns; it feels comfortable and yet unstable at the same time. It feels good to turn, but it always feels ready for something different like it doesn't want to do steady-state cornering. The steering is a little heavy, but so am I, and I don't mind applying a little heft to the bars to get the machine cranked over.
It is fun to put some work into a little ride and get some adrenaline pumping, and then come back down to earth. I like to get a little scared at the intimidating acceleration, and come home and have a neighbor casually ask how things are going. In my mind, I am thinking about the intensity of the experience I just had, but it can't be related. I say, "I'm good," kind of chuckling to myself about how excited I feel or felt. I didn't really have any idea what kind of performance was actually available for any old punk with the jonesing to go fast.
I know some gullible, trusting people who let me ride some intense machinery. The irony is that the bikes people don't let me ride are generally far tamer than the ones I can borrow for an extended time. I can't fault anybody for not wanting a still relatively inexperienced yahoo on their baby, but the paradox is startling. That said, having friends who let me ride extreme near-race bikes for a month at a time more than makes up for it.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
New Title
So I just changed the name of my blog to "Rants about whatever." This will be among the first to illustrate the reduction in focus.
Can I get some feedback on how socialist our country is going so quickly? We just had the first 100 days of Obama. People keep pointing to how incredible it is that we have a black president. So what?!?! Who cares about his skin color and ethnicity? If you like it or not, you have some bigotry issues. I see only red when he speaks. With a gold hammer and sickle.
100 days has brought huge amounts of banking control under the oligarchy's control. 100 days saw the start of the process of our country's leaders taking control of on of the biggest segments within. Good for the American people? What do they know? These people have a history of politicking and lobbying and compromising and embellishing and sneaking. They don't know engineering. They don't know design. They sure don't know chemistry and physics and apparently economics. They don't even know geography and agriculture. Why are they sticking their grubby hands in all of it?
America became great through some laissez faire thinking with some small amount of regulation. Communist Russia and the Eastern Bloc fell through government totalitarianism and micromanagement. Emulating those great icons of self-serviance will get us nowhere good.
How is it that so many young people in America who are so interested, supposedly, in individual freedom, choice, and individuality jumped so eagerly on the bandwagon? Obama, when he wanted kids to listen, spoke constantly of "change" with little specifics. When he spoke specifically, he spoke of government hands-on. Our budget deficit was bad before, but look what the Obamination has provided ALREADY!
Why is not more of the country fearing for every last liberty when Obamadministration steamrolls ideals and rights they claim inhibit the "greater good?" We believe in a privatized economy for some very real reasons. We believe in the 1st and 2nd Amendments for even more easily understandable reasons. We need to protect all of our rights from invasive government. The Constitution was not ratified until those first 10 were included. Why remove guns from the hands and practice of law-abiding citizens? Because non-gun-enthusiasts think it is ridiculous? How do they think that disarming good people will protect good people? Bad people are already getting guns.
And Janet Napolitano? Really?!?! This is the woman who, as governor of Arizona, faced a $90 Million deficit. Did she consider how to cut spending? No! She brought in tons of traffic cameras to violate the basic rights of her constituents to have them bankroll her overspending. Now she runs Homeland Security. She is busy telling law enforcement agencies to beware veterans because of their supposed higher risk of joining terrorist groups. Then, she can't bring herself to say that Islamic Jihadists are the ones we are fighting in Asia right now. And, this just in, she is apparently on the shortlist for the soon-to-be-vacant Supreme Court Justice position. Oh yeah, and she released and retracted her very awesome Domestic Extremism Lexicon. Lou Dobbs was something south of shy in demanding she be fired along with all others involved with the lexicon this evening on his show. I tend to agree - she seems to be one of a long list of nutcases placed in positions of dangerous power by a "leader" obsessed with changing things that haven't been changed yet.
I am fine with change when it needs changing. Well, I am fine with it provided it is changed properly. A sick person ought to have his status changed - but not by killing him. That is change, all right, but rather extreme. Yes, the auto industry needs change. What American businesses do not need, however, is high-level meddling. Their own corporate structure had too much meddling with too little front-line empowerment. As a trained manufacturing engineer, I have leaned about how to improve organizations quite a lot, and mighty Toyota effected great change on a micro scale by empowering every Toyota employee to change. All those micro changes netted the most powerful automotive company today. A certain one of the Big 3 incorporated some of that philosophy with a healthy dose of Dr. Deming, and Ford is the healthiest of the American automakers.
We want change? We need every available American on-board to make it happen. It needs to happen from the bottom-up, and we need to stop trying to do it the other way around before we cause irreparable damage. Or better yet, we need to change our perspective and see America as a group of individuals who are held up by organizations below and then go top-down. President Obama has an important position at the bottom of that teetering triangle, and he needs to assist the rest of us to be what we need to. He doesn't need to play puppet-master.
Check out Dr. Deming - he is very impressive.
Can I get some feedback on how socialist our country is going so quickly? We just had the first 100 days of Obama. People keep pointing to how incredible it is that we have a black president. So what?!?! Who cares about his skin color and ethnicity? If you like it or not, you have some bigotry issues. I see only red when he speaks. With a gold hammer and sickle.
100 days has brought huge amounts of banking control under the oligarchy's control. 100 days saw the start of the process of our country's leaders taking control of on of the biggest segments within. Good for the American people? What do they know? These people have a history of politicking and lobbying and compromising and embellishing and sneaking. They don't know engineering. They don't know design. They sure don't know chemistry and physics and apparently economics. They don't even know geography and agriculture. Why are they sticking their grubby hands in all of it?
America became great through some laissez faire thinking with some small amount of regulation. Communist Russia and the Eastern Bloc fell through government totalitarianism and micromanagement. Emulating those great icons of self-serviance will get us nowhere good.
How is it that so many young people in America who are so interested, supposedly, in individual freedom, choice, and individuality jumped so eagerly on the bandwagon? Obama, when he wanted kids to listen, spoke constantly of "change" with little specifics. When he spoke specifically, he spoke of government hands-on. Our budget deficit was bad before, but look what the Obamination has provided ALREADY!
Why is not more of the country fearing for every last liberty when Obamadministration steamrolls ideals and rights they claim inhibit the "greater good?" We believe in a privatized economy for some very real reasons. We believe in the 1st and 2nd Amendments for even more easily understandable reasons. We need to protect all of our rights from invasive government. The Constitution was not ratified until those first 10 were included. Why remove guns from the hands and practice of law-abiding citizens? Because non-gun-enthusiasts think it is ridiculous? How do they think that disarming good people will protect good people? Bad people are already getting guns.
And Janet Napolitano? Really?!?! This is the woman who, as governor of Arizona, faced a $90 Million deficit. Did she consider how to cut spending? No! She brought in tons of traffic cameras to violate the basic rights of her constituents to have them bankroll her overspending. Now she runs Homeland Security. She is busy telling law enforcement agencies to beware veterans because of their supposed higher risk of joining terrorist groups. Then, she can't bring herself to say that Islamic Jihadists are the ones we are fighting in Asia right now. And, this just in, she is apparently on the shortlist for the soon-to-be-vacant Supreme Court Justice position. Oh yeah, and she released and retracted her very awesome Domestic Extremism Lexicon. Lou Dobbs was something south of shy in demanding she be fired along with all others involved with the lexicon this evening on his show. I tend to agree - she seems to be one of a long list of nutcases placed in positions of dangerous power by a "leader" obsessed with changing things that haven't been changed yet.
I am fine with change when it needs changing. Well, I am fine with it provided it is changed properly. A sick person ought to have his status changed - but not by killing him. That is change, all right, but rather extreme. Yes, the auto industry needs change. What American businesses do not need, however, is high-level meddling. Their own corporate structure had too much meddling with too little front-line empowerment. As a trained manufacturing engineer, I have leaned about how to improve organizations quite a lot, and mighty Toyota effected great change on a micro scale by empowering every Toyota employee to change. All those micro changes netted the most powerful automotive company today. A certain one of the Big 3 incorporated some of that philosophy with a healthy dose of Dr. Deming, and Ford is the healthiest of the American automakers.
We want change? We need every available American on-board to make it happen. It needs to happen from the bottom-up, and we need to stop trying to do it the other way around before we cause irreparable damage. Or better yet, we need to change our perspective and see America as a group of individuals who are held up by organizations below and then go top-down. President Obama has an important position at the bottom of that teetering triangle, and he needs to assist the rest of us to be what we need to. He doesn't need to play puppet-master.
Check out Dr. Deming - he is very impressive.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Moto update
On different note entirely from below, my bike is listed. Also, I had a sweet idea regarding the seat for my next bike. I want to make it from some pretty figured hardwood. I would especially like to make it from some book-matched flame/curly maple. I have also considered clear-lacquered purpleheart. If I do maple, I am torn between the idea of a transparent bright blue finish or a straight clear finish. The blue, done right, would have an iridescent look that would sparkle, but the light creamy color of the natural wood is beautiful and would make a sweet contrast to the rest of the bike.
I would make the whole bike black except for the wheels. I would make them bright blue. The seat would either be blue maple or creamy maple. Blue flame maple is AWESOME. Anyway, it would be ridiculously sweet no matter how you spin it.
I would make the whole bike black except for the wheels. I would make them bright blue. The seat would either be blue maple or creamy maple. Blue flame maple is AWESOME. Anyway, it would be ridiculously sweet no matter how you spin it.
Close-minded rant about close-minded people
So I only recently discovered Lou Dobbs, and I like his stance on the 2nd amendment. However, today I was watching as he was covering a story in Texas involving the state legislature passing a bill changing the language of public school science books to merely imply that macro evolution might not be correct.
First off, to be perfectly clear, I have real issues with common ancestry. Natural selection and localized adaptation is fine with me, and I get warm fuzzies regarding the same. I am not saying that I know for a fact that Darwinian evolution did not happen, but I don't think it did. If I come across what I consider irrefutable evidence, I am open to reconsider.
I think it is astounding that some so-called atheists have so much faith in some utterly ridiculous "theories." They could honestly teach Judeo-Christian and Muslim people a thing or two about blind faith. The Big Bang Theory - fine, ok. Whatever. But spontaneous life? Really?!? The theories I have heard from people who have proclaimed to think their way away from religion are mind-blowing. I heard one guy saying some organic compounds piggy-backing on mutating growing crystals may have made life. One guy, the author of a book called The God Delusion, actually said - straight-faced, ming you - that perhaps some earlier race of super-intelligent beingsmay have made life before disappearing from view. Than he reiterated how ridiculous the idea of a Supreme Being must seem to intelligent, non-stupid people. I am not a swearer, but WTF?
Our country has some crazy kind of bigotry and autocratic sqaushing of ideas. You can teach whatever you want about the origin of life and the universe as long as there is nothing intelligent or sentient in the mix. I recently watched a documentary (Expelled, by Ben Stein - wonderful if you want to know) that presented an interesting case for the black-balling and ostracism of academics and educators who even suggest the notion of Intelligent Design. Admittedly, the show was a viewpoint, and it did not pretend to present the "truth" about the origin of everything. Stein wanted only to illuminate the prevalent practice of ripping on proponents of Intelligent Design.
People who believe that evolution is not perfectly solid and gospel are painted by the "best and brightest" as stupid, ignorant, and *gasp* even religious! Did you know that religion makes all subscribers mindless zombie zealots? Who are the perpetrators of this garbage? Think of a large scientific organization or publication. Yep, them too. Now think of a not-directly-Christian-university. Also them. The National Science Foundation. The Smithsonian Institute. State and Federal governments. The wool is being pulled by loud hands.
One talking head on Lou Dobbs tonight from the University of Texas complained that the mention that evolution is not a perfectly sufficient explanation of life and the mention that other plausible theories may, in fact, be plausible meant the advocate of such must be religious. He said that the proposed law in Texas was a ploy by proponents of ID to promulgate religion. Really?!? WTF?
There is a lot of freedom in our country. There are some weird "freedoms" ever threatening to be allowed. Somehow, though, science is not allowed freedom. It has a very Communist vibe to me. You can teach and study whatever you want as long as you tow the party line. You would think that science and technology are given nearly free rein, but not only are people reined in; they are cut off.
I am fine with evolution being taught IF the holes are taught, too. If scientists are so sure of what is, they will NEVER find anything that contradicts. Evolution is not a complete theory, and people far smarter than me have pointed out way better issues than I am capable of. I point to things like quantized "species," no continuous fossil record of ANYTHING, the ridiculous nature of radio-carbon dating, and all the assumptions that cannot be applied to everything.
If the things we assume are constants really are, then what about the moon? It is moving away from the earth at a constant rate. When the dinosaurs were here "65 million years ago" (I doubt and question everything), the moon would have been attached to the earth. I certainly doubt that. The earth's rotation is slowing, too. Again, back in the dino-days, the earth would have been spinning so fast as to send some dino-satellites to exit velocity. More of the doubt here.
Our knowledge is so tenuous and based on faulty research and assumptions of so many people with like agendas that I don't believe an honest thinker can do anything but ask the tough questions. So what if it turns out we don't know as much as we thought? Does it change how much we know? NO! Only how much we know we know - and that couldn't matter any less.
I fully plan on having my kids indoctrinated with counter-indoctrination. Maybe their teachers won't like them. I want my girls to have the satisfaction of searching for real fact and truth and never settling for the status quo. People need to ask questions. Not buying macro-evolution does not mean you think that the earth and everything on it was created in 6 24-hour periods. I think that idea is a bit preposterous and unfounded, really. Sure, if the Bible was originally in English, you could be excused to buying into that notion, but it wasn't.
What can we do? Can I take on the establishment and have my voice heard? Probably not. No, I'm gonna go with definitely not. Can a bunch of precocious children, students, readers, voters, and citizens make their voices heard? Absolutely. I don't honestly expect much in my life. It will not be my life's work. I fully intend to be more focused on making fast cars faster than on dispelling myths about the clientele of ID's real tenets.
Quick little connected global warming soapbox: I am so sick of hearing athletes and movie stars tell me that man is responsible for global warming or climate change or whatever the experts are calling it these days. I am even tired of hearing that oil is from dinosaurs or any other living thing as a fact when the FACT is we don't know. Accept it. Be responsible with resources and pollution, too. It can all work in harmony together. Love earth, but it give it some credit, too.
Remember, April 22 is earth day. Show some love.
First off, to be perfectly clear, I have real issues with common ancestry. Natural selection and localized adaptation is fine with me, and I get warm fuzzies regarding the same. I am not saying that I know for a fact that Darwinian evolution did not happen, but I don't think it did. If I come across what I consider irrefutable evidence, I am open to reconsider.
I think it is astounding that some so-called atheists have so much faith in some utterly ridiculous "theories." They could honestly teach Judeo-Christian and Muslim people a thing or two about blind faith. The Big Bang Theory - fine, ok. Whatever. But spontaneous life? Really?!? The theories I have heard from people who have proclaimed to think their way away from religion are mind-blowing. I heard one guy saying some organic compounds piggy-backing on mutating growing crystals may have made life. One guy, the author of a book called The God Delusion, actually said - straight-faced, ming you - that perhaps some earlier race of super-intelligent beingsmay have made life before disappearing from view. Than he reiterated how ridiculous the idea of a Supreme Being must seem to intelligent, non-stupid people. I am not a swearer, but WTF?
Our country has some crazy kind of bigotry and autocratic sqaushing of ideas. You can teach whatever you want about the origin of life and the universe as long as there is nothing intelligent or sentient in the mix. I recently watched a documentary (Expelled, by Ben Stein - wonderful if you want to know) that presented an interesting case for the black-balling and ostracism of academics and educators who even suggest the notion of Intelligent Design. Admittedly, the show was a viewpoint, and it did not pretend to present the "truth" about the origin of everything. Stein wanted only to illuminate the prevalent practice of ripping on proponents of Intelligent Design.
People who believe that evolution is not perfectly solid and gospel are painted by the "best and brightest" as stupid, ignorant, and *gasp* even religious! Did you know that religion makes all subscribers mindless zombie zealots? Who are the perpetrators of this garbage? Think of a large scientific organization or publication. Yep, them too. Now think of a not-directly-Christian-university. Also them. The National Science Foundation. The Smithsonian Institute. State and Federal governments. The wool is being pulled by loud hands.
One talking head on Lou Dobbs tonight from the University of Texas complained that the mention that evolution is not a perfectly sufficient explanation of life and the mention that other plausible theories may, in fact, be plausible meant the advocate of such must be religious. He said that the proposed law in Texas was a ploy by proponents of ID to promulgate religion. Really?!? WTF?
There is a lot of freedom in our country. There are some weird "freedoms" ever threatening to be allowed. Somehow, though, science is not allowed freedom. It has a very Communist vibe to me. You can teach and study whatever you want as long as you tow the party line. You would think that science and technology are given nearly free rein, but not only are people reined in; they are cut off.
I am fine with evolution being taught IF the holes are taught, too. If scientists are so sure of what is, they will NEVER find anything that contradicts. Evolution is not a complete theory, and people far smarter than me have pointed out way better issues than I am capable of. I point to things like quantized "species," no continuous fossil record of ANYTHING, the ridiculous nature of radio-carbon dating, and all the assumptions that cannot be applied to everything.
If the things we assume are constants really are, then what about the moon? It is moving away from the earth at a constant rate. When the dinosaurs were here "65 million years ago" (I doubt and question everything), the moon would have been attached to the earth. I certainly doubt that. The earth's rotation is slowing, too. Again, back in the dino-days, the earth would have been spinning so fast as to send some dino-satellites to exit velocity. More of the doubt here.
Our knowledge is so tenuous and based on faulty research and assumptions of so many people with like agendas that I don't believe an honest thinker can do anything but ask the tough questions. So what if it turns out we don't know as much as we thought? Does it change how much we know? NO! Only how much we know we know - and that couldn't matter any less.
I fully plan on having my kids indoctrinated with counter-indoctrination. Maybe their teachers won't like them. I want my girls to have the satisfaction of searching for real fact and truth and never settling for the status quo. People need to ask questions. Not buying macro-evolution does not mean you think that the earth and everything on it was created in 6 24-hour periods. I think that idea is a bit preposterous and unfounded, really. Sure, if the Bible was originally in English, you could be excused to buying into that notion, but it wasn't.
What can we do? Can I take on the establishment and have my voice heard? Probably not. No, I'm gonna go with definitely not. Can a bunch of precocious children, students, readers, voters, and citizens make their voices heard? Absolutely. I don't honestly expect much in my life. It will not be my life's work. I fully intend to be more focused on making fast cars faster than on dispelling myths about the clientele of ID's real tenets.
Quick little connected global warming soapbox: I am so sick of hearing athletes and movie stars tell me that man is responsible for global warming or climate change or whatever the experts are calling it these days. I am even tired of hearing that oil is from dinosaurs or any other living thing as a fact when the FACT is we don't know. Accept it. Be responsible with resources and pollution, too. It can all work in harmony together. Love earth, but it give it some credit, too.
Remember, April 22 is earth day. Show some love.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
My motorcycle
So I think I have reached the end of an era. I am thinking about selling my motorcycle to reduce debt and to upgrade. I told myself when I bought my bike that I am a big boy, and I don't need some petty fast bike to race around on like a little kid. I think I must have lied to myself because I am pretty sure that I do need at least a faster bike.
It is a bit disconcerting that I cannot outrun any car on the road if the driver doesn't want me to. I am not talking about racing or escaping after cutting them off and ticking them off. I just mean that when a situation gets sketchy, I like to have the ability to speed, slow, or turn my way out of it. I like having my options open. My bike's brakes are workable, but they are not meant to stop the bike with someone nearly the same weight as the bike riding it if there is any sort of speed or urgency involved repeatedly.
It has been fun with my brand new bike, but I also see a fallacy in my initial logic. I bought a brand new Japanese motorcycle and got an extended warranty. The bike hasn't had the remotest hiccup. It could be 20 years old and the warranty would still be pointless. It is no good to me - at no fault of its own. I just took about a week and a half before it occurred to me that I was ready for more engine.
The bike I hope to get if all goes well will be a project bike. It is about 15-16 years old, and was quite the sporty piece in its day. Today it is considered slow. I have ridden bikes that make it look like an old, ugly scooter. P.S. It is ugly. Nee - it is hideous by my reckoning. But I have big plans...
I want to turn it into something known as a streetfighter. Streetfighters are essentially sportbikes that are stripped of their bodywork and given some minor exterior tweaks for form and/or function. I plan, if it works out, to work on it for the whole time I would own it to make it look awesome.
I think I have said on here before that motorcycles do weird things to me. I never really have the desire to gussy-up the looks of a car. I really want a Miata, but I want it to stay ugly and girly - if only for the shock value. With bikes, some at least, I actually want to do some things that are strictly for the aesthetic value - and that is counter to my previous MO.
I am thinking I may want to put on a single high-mount bar versus the clip-ons. That serves a purpose as I would get to sit upright and be more comfortable and make it easier to ride on the street. I have some cool plans for the headlights, and the current ones need to go. Beyond that, I want to work on small half cosmetic, half functional pieces like a mini fairing for the radiator and a belly pan to protect the exhaust pipes. As for the exhaust, I am not sure how to change - I only know that I must eventually. No one did exhausts right in the 80-90's.
I would paint the frame some solid color to either match or contrast what little bodywork I leave. I want to chop the tail or retrofit a tail from some other sportbike that doesn't look so repulsive. I would paint or powdercoat the wheels to stand out and look awesome. If I did chop the tail, I would remove the passenger seat (known for some reason as a pillion).
I would definitely find some ways to make the bike really practical - like maybe have a foldout rack behind the single seat with bungee net hooks. Perhaps I" would mount little hooks around the tank for a bungee net up on top of that, too. I would carry tools to help people stranded on the road, and it would be cool to carry trash bags and trash-grabber things.
That reminds me of the club I want to start: Motorcyclists Who Do Good Things. We would do things like trash clean up partly because it is nice to help, and partly because it would be nice to depropagandize the general populace about motorcycles and the people who ride them. I talked about it today with a couple of friends who ride motorcycles today, and they said they would be in. We could do a little service project to cap off a ride. I think it would be kinda fun!
Anyway, congratualtions if you made it this far.
It is a bit disconcerting that I cannot outrun any car on the road if the driver doesn't want me to. I am not talking about racing or escaping after cutting them off and ticking them off. I just mean that when a situation gets sketchy, I like to have the ability to speed, slow, or turn my way out of it. I like having my options open. My bike's brakes are workable, but they are not meant to stop the bike with someone nearly the same weight as the bike riding it if there is any sort of speed or urgency involved repeatedly.
It has been fun with my brand new bike, but I also see a fallacy in my initial logic. I bought a brand new Japanese motorcycle and got an extended warranty. The bike hasn't had the remotest hiccup. It could be 20 years old and the warranty would still be pointless. It is no good to me - at no fault of its own. I just took about a week and a half before it occurred to me that I was ready for more engine.
The bike I hope to get if all goes well will be a project bike. It is about 15-16 years old, and was quite the sporty piece in its day. Today it is considered slow. I have ridden bikes that make it look like an old, ugly scooter. P.S. It is ugly. Nee - it is hideous by my reckoning. But I have big plans...
I want to turn it into something known as a streetfighter. Streetfighters are essentially sportbikes that are stripped of their bodywork and given some minor exterior tweaks for form and/or function. I plan, if it works out, to work on it for the whole time I would own it to make it look awesome.
I think I have said on here before that motorcycles do weird things to me. I never really have the desire to gussy-up the looks of a car. I really want a Miata, but I want it to stay ugly and girly - if only for the shock value. With bikes, some at least, I actually want to do some things that are strictly for the aesthetic value - and that is counter to my previous MO.
I am thinking I may want to put on a single high-mount bar versus the clip-ons. That serves a purpose as I would get to sit upright and be more comfortable and make it easier to ride on the street. I have some cool plans for the headlights, and the current ones need to go. Beyond that, I want to work on small half cosmetic, half functional pieces like a mini fairing for the radiator and a belly pan to protect the exhaust pipes. As for the exhaust, I am not sure how to change - I only know that I must eventually. No one did exhausts right in the 80-90's.
I would paint the frame some solid color to either match or contrast what little bodywork I leave. I want to chop the tail or retrofit a tail from some other sportbike that doesn't look so repulsive. I would paint or powdercoat the wheels to stand out and look awesome. If I did chop the tail, I would remove the passenger seat (known for some reason as a pillion).
I would definitely find some ways to make the bike really practical - like maybe have a foldout rack behind the single seat with bungee net hooks. Perhaps I" would mount little hooks around the tank for a bungee net up on top of that, too. I would carry tools to help people stranded on the road, and it would be cool to carry trash bags and trash-grabber things.
That reminds me of the club I want to start: Motorcyclists Who Do Good Things. We would do things like trash clean up partly because it is nice to help, and partly because it would be nice to depropagandize the general populace about motorcycles and the people who ride them. I talked about it today with a couple of friends who ride motorcycles today, and they said they would be in. We could do a little service project to cap off a ride. I think it would be kinda fun!
Anyway, congratualtions if you made it this far.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
It is near official
So I have set a date for the chocolate thing. I am looking at the 9th of January at the Wymount Multipurpose building. I think that getting 25-30 people signed up is a very real possibility. I have already gotten about 20+ people who have told me they are in. I am excited. More as it develops.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Withdrawals
Carrie can attest to all of this, but it may be more comfortable to not ask her opinion. I am suffering from 2-wheeled withdrawals somethin fierce. This snow is about to make a not-swear-er start rippin off lots of naughty-list-making words because of this dang snow! Whys is so freakin cold and everywhere!
Rain goes away. Maybe you get 2 weeks of rain, but then it drains. Snow, especially in stupid Utah valley, just sits on the roads, in driveways, in piles left by the plow idiots on the back of driveways blocking people in, EVERYWHERE! Except empty parking lots where it is useful. And, I'll have you know, I have gotten to put my snow idiocy to use in some situations where the car did not want to turn normally, so I got to play mode and stayed safe. It works.
But anyway, last Tuesday, Carrie and the girls and I went to Salt Lake to see the temple lights and buy chocolate at Caputo's. And, while we were going anyway, I requested a stop at the Triumph store in North Salt Lake. I got to sit on several short-list dream bikes and make engine noises in my head. I have been looking at so many bikes online, Carrie wants to throw a heavy, dull object at the computer. Well, at me - the computer is rather inanimate and therefore impervious to blame.
I am day-dreaming all the time about the first 10 bikes I want to get when I theoretically finish school, get a job, and start getting paid. I want comfortable air shooting up my sleeves and up the front of my helmet as I waft along straddling a big piece of machinery. I love sliding my butt off the seat and leaning into turns. I love taking off from stoplights with my feet dragging until I have to shift. I love smoking idiots in cars who are actually trying to race, then backing off and letting them fly by in a fit of attempted glory. I love being so involved in the whole process and feeling the camaraderie with other fools like me on the road - but not scooter riders. They are wannabes. The left-hand-down, two-finger wave between brothers on bikes feels good.
I don't showboat, and I don't push things. I don't have close calls anymore - not since week two, really. But I do have my bike under a cover under a foot of snow, and it bites. If snow was a person, I would probably fight him.
Rain goes away. Maybe you get 2 weeks of rain, but then it drains. Snow, especially in stupid Utah valley, just sits on the roads, in driveways, in piles left by the plow idiots on the back of driveways blocking people in, EVERYWHERE! Except empty parking lots where it is useful. And, I'll have you know, I have gotten to put my snow idiocy to use in some situations where the car did not want to turn normally, so I got to play mode and stayed safe. It works.
But anyway, last Tuesday, Carrie and the girls and I went to Salt Lake to see the temple lights and buy chocolate at Caputo's. And, while we were going anyway, I requested a stop at the Triumph store in North Salt Lake. I got to sit on several short-list dream bikes and make engine noises in my head. I have been looking at so many bikes online, Carrie wants to throw a heavy, dull object at the computer. Well, at me - the computer is rather inanimate and therefore impervious to blame.
I am day-dreaming all the time about the first 10 bikes I want to get when I theoretically finish school, get a job, and start getting paid. I want comfortable air shooting up my sleeves and up the front of my helmet as I waft along straddling a big piece of machinery. I love sliding my butt off the seat and leaning into turns. I love taking off from stoplights with my feet dragging until I have to shift. I love smoking idiots in cars who are actually trying to race, then backing off and letting them fly by in a fit of attempted glory. I love being so involved in the whole process and feeling the camaraderie with other fools like me on the road - but not scooter riders. They are wannabes. The left-hand-down, two-finger wave between brothers on bikes feels good.
I don't showboat, and I don't push things. I don't have close calls anymore - not since week two, really. But I do have my bike under a cover under a foot of snow, and it bites. If snow was a person, I would probably fight him.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Where are the good bands?
I think the newest band I like at all released their first record in 1999. I got a bunch of iTunes money for Christmas, and I bought a bunch of stuff from the '90s and one album from a band who released their first 12" in '93 (though the album was from 2004).
Why aren't there any new bands coming up that are worth anything. There are some bands that I tolerate, and maybe even some whose music I can drum along with on the steering wheel, but new bands just don't get my blood moving. Am I turning into a newfangled version of my parents? I am I going to treat my kids' music like Mom and Dad treated mine? The problem is that I really liked the music from the '90s, and I think the music was more "real."
That sounds cheesy, I know, but bands then often played with real conviction, and it seems to me that more recent musicians are so formulaic. And while I decry self-indulgent solos, I still like some showcasing of musicianship. I do like some "recent" (coming onto the scene since 2000-ish) artists, but not in the same way. Here is a sampling of newer people I like OK:
One Republic
Alicia Keys
Chris Brown
Kelly Clarkson
Paramore
Natasha Bedingfield
Black Eyed Peas
Blue October
Chevelle
Coldplay
Death Cab for Cutie
Gavin DeGraw
John Mayer (electric era)
Los Lonely Boys
Maroon 5
Mars Volta (though they were around before, sorta, as At the Drive-In)
Modest Mouse (they made it big relatively recently, though they have been around forever)
Shinedown
Wolfmother
Several of those are artists that I probably wouldn't have ever heard of or listened to if not for Carrie. I want more Muse's, Mars Volta's, Clutch's, COC's, Down's, CKY's, Pearl Jam's, Nirvana's, AIC's, Soundgarden's, Rage Against the Machine's, Audioslave's (it's hard to count them as "since 2000" as the previous bands are so familiar to me from long ago), Bush's, Institute's, etc.
I really need to get my band going. I can cure the world with ROCK!
Why aren't there any new bands coming up that are worth anything. There are some bands that I tolerate, and maybe even some whose music I can drum along with on the steering wheel, but new bands just don't get my blood moving. Am I turning into a newfangled version of my parents? I am I going to treat my kids' music like Mom and Dad treated mine? The problem is that I really liked the music from the '90s, and I think the music was more "real."
That sounds cheesy, I know, but bands then often played with real conviction, and it seems to me that more recent musicians are so formulaic. And while I decry self-indulgent solos, I still like some showcasing of musicianship. I do like some "recent" (coming onto the scene since 2000-ish) artists, but not in the same way. Here is a sampling of newer people I like OK:
One Republic
Alicia Keys
Chris Brown
Kelly Clarkson
Paramore
Natasha Bedingfield
Black Eyed Peas
Blue October
Chevelle
Coldplay
Death Cab for Cutie
Gavin DeGraw
John Mayer (electric era)
Los Lonely Boys
Maroon 5
Mars Volta (though they were around before, sorta, as At the Drive-In)
Modest Mouse (they made it big relatively recently, though they have been around forever)
Shinedown
Wolfmother
Several of those are artists that I probably wouldn't have ever heard of or listened to if not for Carrie. I want more Muse's, Mars Volta's, Clutch's, COC's, Down's, CKY's, Pearl Jam's, Nirvana's, AIC's, Soundgarden's, Rage Against the Machine's, Audioslave's (it's hard to count them as "since 2000" as the previous bands are so familiar to me from long ago), Bush's, Institute's, etc.
I really need to get my band going. I can cure the world with ROCK!
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